Women Speak Out
From the 22nd to 24th of November, Bridge 5 Mill
in Ancoats hosted 60-70 women taking part in Manchester's first ever `Women Speak
Out'. WSO events have occurred before in many cities, but until now, always south of
Watford. The idea is for women to come together for discussions and workshops, to
meet each other, cook and eat communally and generally enjoy a weekend of fun and
feminism. People travelled from as far away as Devon and Edinburgh, with a strong
contigent of WSO regulars as well as local women who'd seen the publicity placed
strategically round the city. Among many others, there were workshops on Feminism
and Islam, DJ skills, Herbalism, Subvertising, Tae-Kwondo, ID cards and the Police
State, and introductions to political issues such as the Baku-Ceyan oil pipeline,
Palestine, the war in Chechnya, Animal Rights and the UK genetics campaign.
We were entertained by inspiring performances from two local women poets, while
another gave a preview of her one-woman play, which led into a workshop looking at
issues of gender in performance. Several womens' book collectives and organisations
brought stalls, there was a good attempt made at running a creche (lessons were
learned for the future, however!), heaps of delicious vegan food, mattresses to sleep on
and on the Saturday night the surrounding mills echoed to the sound of partying,
fuelled by plenty of organic beer. A camera skills workshop means that after a follow-
up session on editing, a short film of the weekend should be coming soon to Beyond
TV.
The next Women Speak Out will be in Bristol, in the Spring.
Women Speak Out
From loombreaker #33
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